But It Could Be
by Hiiro-No-Ame
Summary: Toni's always been reluctant to let people in, but what happens when she allows Bruce to step across that line? And what will become of them when voices from the past spread doubt over Bruce's self control? Warning Fem Toni.
1. Chapter 1

Toni pulled her mask off quickly, and threw it off into a pile of decimated building that surrounded her. Pain laced up her side with every movement and breath she took. Blood trickled from her side where her armor had pierced her shallowly during a fight. And if she was being totally honest with herself, it had probably pierced into her lung, or snagged itself on some other organ that she really needed to stay alive. In short everything about this mission was going to hell in a hand basket, and she was being dragged along for the ride.

She stumbled through debris and rubble clumsily, half tripping over rocks and pieces of bent metal that were strewn across the ground. Pain laced its way through her chest softly, and she looked down curiously, to be greeted with the sight of a flickering cracked arc reactor. And she had thought this day couldn't get worst. She watched the failing reactor critically and mentally calculated how long she had until she went into cardiac arrest and had shrapnel take out her arteries, she had an hour. And that was being _generous_ with her calculations. She sped up as best as she could with metal slicing into her calf, and desperately tried to draw in gasping breaths through obviously broken ribs. Blood pooled out of all the holes and cracks in her suit, staining it a sickly hue of blackening red that she, hysterically, thought looked really ugly next to the shiny gold accents.

She pulled off as much of her suit as she could with her bare hands, slicing them up in the process. She threw metal off of her, reveling cuts and bruises galore. She looked like some sadist's wet dream come true, and felt ten times as worse. She managed to pull the crushed metal off her leg with a strangled cry. Blood splattered around her and stained ruined streets. She looked around the desolate area desperate for any sign that the other avengers were somewhere nearby.

Panic bubbled in her stomach; it was thick and sickly, making her stomach heave slightly. It crawled through her veins, sluggishly oozing its way through her entire body, spreading its toxic fumes. She was going to die. If she didn't find someone soon, preferably right now she was going to fucking die. Her heart thudded frantically, and the light of her reactor flickered and dimmed. She tried to calm herself down when she realized that her elevated blood pressure and heart rate were steadily draining the arc reactor of whatever life it still had left in it. Where the hell was Bruce and his funny heart control-ie techniques when she needed them?

She limped along the streets quickly, mentally panicking, until she saw a hulking green shape amongst the rubble before her. Hulk. She hoped to fuck he was in a good mood, because even though she knew he'd never purposely hurt her, she'd never actually gotten that close to him to test that theory, especially without her suit. But Bruce was her science bro, and she really didn't think that Hulk was out to destroy everything. He was like an abused kid that had never learned to trust the people around him. Toni could defiantly relate to that, and it wasn't like she had much of a choice. It was wither take a chance and hope she didn't get smashed by an angry Hulk, oooorrr have her heart pulverized by shrapnel. With that wonderfully cheerful thought she gimped her way over to him as quickly as she could.

The Hulk whirled around at her approach fist held in the air ready to beat the living snot out of whoever was approaching. Toni slowed down a bit, okay she slowed down a lot, and held up her hands in a placating gesture, "Bruce, it's me Toni. I'm not gonna hurt you bro. But I kinda really need your help Big Guy."

He looked at her for a long moment searching her face curiously, before lowering his fists slowly, "To-ni?"

She nodded a bit frantically and pushed her bloody hair out of her face so he could recognize her better, "Yea, Toni. I need your help Big Guy."

The Hulk smiled at her as best as he could and nodded eagerly, "Hulk help To-ni." He lumbered over to her, and sat down right in front of her. The ground under her feet shook slightly at the impact and the resulting pain sent a wave of nausea through her. She was more than ready to pass out at this point. He seemed so cute though, so she could hardly complain about the pain.

"I need you to rip the rest of my suit off of me, and get me back to Stark Towers." Her lungs screamed a violent protest with every word she spoke, and her ribs ached every time she pulled in even small breaths. She rubbed her chest absently and realized that she only had about 15 minutes left to get back to the tower and fix her reactor, "Think you can do that for me Big Guy?"

Hulk seemed to think her words over, before moving closer to her and grasping her armor in his giant hands. He looked at her for a moment, like he was making sure he wasn't doing the wrong thing, before tearing the armor off her body quickly. Toni whimpered in agony when the sharp metal was roughly pulled out of her tender sides. Blood gushed out of the reopened wounds and dripped down her side slowly.

Hulk looked at her sadly and held his hands in his hair like he expected her to beat him "Hulk no want hurt To-ni. Hulk no mean hurt To-ni."

She looked up at him, more than a little surprised at how upset he seemed over hurting her. He didn't have a problem bro fisting Thor in the face. She smiled reassuringly and walked closer to him carefully, "You didn't hurt me Big Guy. Antlers did."

"Puny God."

Toni laughed loudly at the petulant tone of voice Hulk seemed to adopt whenever he thought about Loki. She laughed even though her ribs protested vehemently. But damn it all if Bruce couldn't always manage to put her in a good mood. She grinned a bit and looked back up at him, "Think you can get us home quickly?"

Hulk nodded down at her, eager to help, "Hulk fast." He picked her up gently and cradled her against his chest softly. His skin was warm against her, and she realized just how pale and cold she was sitting right against him. His green skin was a stark contrast to her pale, and slightly bloody hands.

He held her close to his body as he jumped and ran at breakneck speed toward Stark Tower. His giant hand held her steadily against his chest, and kept her stable enough that she could barely feel all the jolting movements he made. After what seemed like a life time he crashed, literally, into the top floor of Stark Towers. Glass tinkled around them and sprayed out into the room, coating everything in a sharp, translucent dust.

"Jarvis!" Toni's voice rang out weakly as Hulk set her down gingerly.

"Yes Miss Stark?"

She walked across the room quickly and pulled a safe out from a hidden compartment in the bar. She set it down on the counter with a dull thunk, and began to type a code into it quickly, "set up a heart monitor, and x-ray my side. I think I've got a few broken ribs." She pulled out an arc reactor quickly; the metal was cool against her skin.

She set it down carefully, and began to unbutton the shirt she had on. She pulled it off quickly and began to stick tiny little heart monitors across her chest carefully.

"Puny Banner worry for To-ni. Think Hulk want hurt To-ni, "she turned to face him and watched quietly as he looked at her sadly, "Hulk no want To-ni hurt. Hulk worry for tiny To-ni too." She was taken aback by the slight fear that resounded in that deep voice. And a bit choked up by the genuine care that the Hulk expressed through his caveman like words. She'd been working with Bruce for months, and she'd come to expect it from him. But to hear it from his alter-ego? Bruce must really care about her to influence the Hulk. Or maybe Hulk was a separate entity from Bruce, and he wanted to express concern over her too. Either way, it was nice for someone to care about her.

"You want to help me right Big Guy?" she smiled when he nodded at her, "then I need you to get Bruce back out here for me."

"To-ni no want Hulk?" his voice was so hurt, that Toni felt a bit guilty for asking him to leave, but she really didn't think his hand was going to fit in her chest, well, it wasn't going to fit in easily, and she really only had 4 minutes left before her heart was shredded to tiny bits.

"I do, "she tapped her arc reactor lightly, "but your hands are too big. I need Bruce to replace this for me; otherwise I'm going to die."

Hulk gave her a frightened look, "Hulk no want To-ni gone." With that he began to slowly shrink back into Bruce. It took a moment for him to get his bearings, and when he did he was greeted with the sight of a topless Toni standing right in front of him. He blushed slightly, and caught the glasses that were casually tossed to him. He looked up at her a bit nervously, "You sure I can replace the reactor? I'm not an engineer Toni. What if I mess it up?" He'd deal with the fact that she'd gotten waaaay too close to the Hulk later.

"I'll lead you through it," she began to unscrew the reactor in her chest, "pretty much all you have to do is make sure the two magnets connect, and then screw the new reactor in tightly." She handed him the reactor lightly, and pulled the old one out of her chest, carefully to keep the magnets connected.

"Why do I have to screw it back in?"

"Because I'm going to be too busy going into cardiac arrest to accurately screw the damn thing back in."

"I suppose that's a good enough reason," he muttered quietly, and watched with horrified fascination as his best friend pull the reactor out of her chest with a sharp tug.

The heart monitor screeched shrilly as Toni gripped the counter tightly. She watched shakily as Bruce attached the magnets and began to screw the reactor back into her chest carefully.

There was a tiny click, and her heart slowed back to a normal rhythm, instinctively realizing that the danger was over. Toni relaxed her death grip on the counter and took a few deep breaths. Pain still laced up her side, but not as sharply as before. "Jarvis, did you do the x-ray?"

"Yes Miss. Stark, you have a few bruised ribs, but thankfully nothing was broken."

Bruce watched her warily, half waiting for her to suddenly collapse in front of him, "You alright now?"

His voiced washed over her soothingly, and Toni relaxed slightly. She looked over at him and smiled cockily, "It'll take more than a pair of antlers to kill me. Thanks to you and the Big Guy, I'd say crisis adverted."

Bruce's eyes darkened slightly when she mentioned the Hulk, and he looked at her sternly, "Toni what were you thinking? He could have easily killed you."

Toni rolled her eyes a bit and began to wrap her ribs tightly. Yea he _could_ have killed her, but that was all theoretical, and she took a calculated risk. Not that she was going to tell him there was a 92% chance that Hulk wouldn't have recognized her. An 8% chance of survival was better than zero in her book.

"Toni are you listening to me? This is serious, Hulk is dangerous and even with your suit you're vulnerable around him." Annoyance tinged with genuine worry rolled along with his words when he spoke, "why would you do something so reckless?"

"Bruce, clam your tits. I'm fine. He didn't mind my presence and all things considered I'd say it ended pretty well. Seriously," she pulled on a shirt and began buttoning it up deftly, "you're over reacting, _and_ if you keep working yourself up you're going to go green again. He saved me, Big Green was happy, you're back here conscious and not naked, and my heart hasn't been turned into hamburger. I'd say this has been a fairly productive day."

"Toni this isn't a joke," serious brown eyes watched her accusingly, "you were badly hurt, and you couldn't have ran if he tried to smash you. Why didn't you have your suit on?!"

Toni shrugged nonchalantly and poured herself a few fingers of whiskey, "I had it on, but Hulk ripped it off for me." She downed the drink quickly relishing in the burn, and the slight distraction from the annoying pains her body was throwing at her.

"He ripped it off?" Bruce echoed back at her horrified, "Toni have you completely lost your mind?! You had him rip off your armor! He could have easily ripped _you_."

"But he didn't Bruce," she held up her hand when he began to argue, and waited for him to fall silent before continuing on seriously, "hasn't killed me. Didn't kill me. Didn't try to kill me. Doesn't seem to want to kill me. You, my science buddy, are just jealous that he got to cuddle with me the entire way here."

Bruce clenched his jaw and mentally ran through all the advanced physics, and gamma theories he could possible think of. Everything in the world was a joke with Toni. _Everything._ She obviously didn't have a self preserving bone in her body. How could she not realize how devastated he would be if he ended up killing his only friend? She was the only person who had met him knowing what he was, and treated him like a person regardless. She'd always valued his opinion and intellect, and they had quickly grown to be friends. God only knew what he would do if Toni died because of him.

Toni watched him quietly feeling little pins of guilt over having bugged her friend so badly. She tried to walk to him, but her legs nearly gave out from beneath her, and she did not want to spend the rest of the day in the hospital getting shards of glass pulled out of her skin, so she settled for smiling at him and changing the topic, "Now that we've gotten this lovely conversation out of our system, where the fuck was everyone else?"

Bruce accepted the change of topic gracefully, but made mental notes to make sure he talked to her again about staying away from the Hulk. He really didn't care if she was a fan of "the way he lost control and turned into a giant green rage monster." He walked over to her carefully, avoiding the broken glass and help support her subtly. He felt a small tinge of satisfaction when she let him help her along; if it had been anyone else she would have point blank refused their help. "I don't know where everyone went off to. Thor was with Steve, and Clint was fighting with Natasha. You flew off sometime during the middle, and then I lost control."

"Alright, I guess there's no helping that," she leaned against his arm as little as she could muster, but finally gave in and leaned against him heavily. Even when he wasn't hulked out, he was a lot taller than her. He felt solid and warm, supporting her like he always did, "Jarvis important things first. Get the damn wall fixed would you? Our contractors must really love me."

"Right away Miss. Stark."

Toni smiled a bit when she felt Bruce's soft rumble of laughter. At least he was in a better mood now. She walked out of the bar room with him quietly, mulling over what had happened with the Hulk. Why the hell _hadn't_ he killed her? He'd gotten out once and tried to take out Tasha and Thor, but he hadn't even rushed at her. The worst he'd done was raise his hand and that had been a purely defensive gesture on his part.

Bruce watched Toni for a moment, knowing that pensive look on her face that signaled she was about to do something either extremely smart, or extremely stupid. And he really hoped that it wasn't something stupid. The last time she had that look on her face they all ended up with pink hair. And a Hulk sized fist in her wall. Her limp grew more pronounced as they wandered down the hall, so he scooped her up carefully. He was amazed at how much smaller than him she was. She'd always seemed so sturdy. Maybe it was her injury, but holding her she felt so tiny.

"The hell? Bruce I can walk perfectly fine I'm not a gimp," she flailed a bit and tried to get him to put her down to no avail. The stubborn bastard obviously wasn't budging.

"Toni you're limping, you're going to cause more damage to your leg and then you'll be pissed at everything because Fury won't let you play with the big kids when you're hurt." He smirked slightly and held her tight enough to keep her from escaping, "so play nice and maybe he'll give you a popsicle."

"Bastard."

He smiled at her amused tone and looked at her innocently, "me? Whatever gave you that idea?"

* * *

Whoo Bruce and Toni! I'm still sticking with Fem. Toni. not sure why, but I think it's a little more fun to write as fem Toni. Just so people know this has nothing to di with my series of stories about Cap and Toni, this is different :D


	2. Chapter 2

Toni holed herself up in her lab a few days after the incident. She'd been working nonstop on _something_, but she never would say what. She just gave a frustratingly secret smile, and told everyone that she'd have to kill them if she told them. Truthfully Toni didn't want to tell them because…well this was special. This project was really special, and pretty new to her, at least in concept. She didn't want anyone to find out and try to help her, because they might take the credit. And even though Toni knew that they wouldn't, she didn't want to take the chance. _She_ was going to do this for Bruce, and if he liked it or not, that would all fall on Toni, not everyone else.

She honestly had no rational idea why doing this was so fucking important, why doing things for _him_ was so important. But Toni had been going out of her way to make Bruce more comfortable, (while still trying to prod him into changing,) since he'd started living in Stark Towers with the rest of the Avengers.

She worked out blue prints carefully, going over every single detail meticulously. Nothing would be left out of her plans, hell, she'd even researched what _colours_ she needed to use. Colours for Christ's sake. She drew things out by hand carefully, and made notes on what materials she needed to use, steel was too weak, and iron might work, but probably not. She needed something stronger, something close to unbreakable."Jarvis get online; tell me how much it would cost to get enough Adimantium to build some things."

"Things, Miss. Stark?"

Toni looked up from her blueprints a bit groggily, she hadn't slept in a few weeks, and it was obviously catching up to her, "things, rooms Jarvis, how much would it cost me to line a room in Adimantium?"

She went back to her blue prints, and rubbed her eyes when the lines started to blur and edge together, maybe she really did need to sleep. But if she slept, then this project would take that much longer. She didn't need to sleep; sleep was for the weak.

"Miss. Stark the approximate cost of enough Adimantium to cover the desired area would come up to a some of nearly 4.5 million dollars."

"That's it? I thought it would cost more," she muttered to herself a bit distractedly, then remembered that she'd been talking with Jarvis, "Alright Jarvis order it all, put it on the fastest shipping you can get. I want it here soon." Toni began to roll the blueprints up slowly, deciding to use them instead of a computer system, so she could make sure with her own hands that everything was the way she wanted it. She wasn't going to risk a system crash (nearly impossible since she'd programmed everything) and losing all her blueprints. This level of dedication might seem odd to most people, but when Toni did something she really did it. All the whistles bangs and security she could feasibly provide, she did. She stored them in a safe and quickly changed the code. She'd done it every time she closed the safe for the night, nothing was going to get in there and ruin this. She was actually doing something _nice_ and she'd be damned if anything was going to fuck this up.

She stumbled out of the lab and made her way upstairs silently, the house was completely dark and she could hear Thor snoring all the way from his room 10 floors above her. Obviously they didn't call him the God of Thunder for nothing. The arc reactor illuminated her path faintly as she made her way to the kitchens slowly. She walked through empty hallways, marveling a bit incredulously, on how her home had come to be filled with people. Lots of people too. It was such an odd thing, and Toni didn't particularly mind (not usually at least). Besides, if everyone left, so would Bruce, Toni's heart thudded a bit painfully and she looked down panicked, terrified that she'd find a broken reactor again, but it glowed steadily, casting her face in an eerie blue glow.

She made her way to the kitchen and began to pull out whatever food she could find, pushing endless boxes of tea out of her way a bit annoyed. Who the hell drank so much plant juice? Bruce Banner, that's who. She shook her head, and put all his teas back in order meticulously; for a guy who claimed to hate confrontation, he sure as hell could get picky about the smallest things. Such as the order of his teas for example. She'd messed them up once just to fuck with him, and then watched in amazement when he spent 45 minutes putting them back in order; muttering curses in serval languages the entire time. Toni threw some food in the microwave and stared at the clock. 1:30 A.M. Was it really that early? Her stomach grumbled angrily, and her eyes focused in and out painfully. Not that she needed sleep, sleep was for the weak. If that was so, then she was getting weak, because her thoughts were jumbled about sluggishly, and she could barley focus on her hand.

"Toni?"

She practically jumped off the counter when his voice rang out at her. She looked over quickly, and relaxed when her eyes fell on Bruce; abet a slightly blurry Bruce, but a Bruce none the less. "Why are you up?"

He gave her a funny look, and walked into the kitchen quietly, "I could ask you the same." His eyes roved over her softly, taking in her messy hair, and the dark bags that made their happy home under her expressive eyes, "Toni…you look like hell."

"Why thank you Bruce," she looked at him dryly, "that is exactly what every woman wants to hear from a guy. 'You look like hell.' Words of poetry those are."

He smiled a bit sheepishly, then looked at her a tad sternly, "When's the last time you slept? Or ate for that matter."

"About 2 weeks ago," she smiled a bit and pulled her food from the microwave quickly, before stuffing a bit in her mouth and looking at him facetiously, "and now." She laughed a bit at the annoyed expression that crossed his face, and braced herself for a health lecture. Bruce cared too much about her health for his own good.

"Toni, you need to sleep," this wasn't turning out to be the relaxing trip for tea he had needed. But he was glad to see Toni out of her lab, even if she did look like death warmed over. He'd felt pretty lonely the past two weeks without her smart ass working with him. He'd gone so far as to try and teach Thor some basic chemistry. Toni's contractors must really love all the holes he had put in walls for them to fix up over that idea, he thought absently, before going to pull down some tea from the cupboard next to her head.

Toni watched him quietly, and was surprised to see the stain of light green that stained his fingers, she looked closely and she could swear she saw little flecks of electric green in those normally calm brown eyes. "You okay?" She watched him stiffen slightly, before resuming his search for tea.

"I'm fine."

"Liar."

They stared at each other for a few moments, both exhausted beyond all belief. Silence welled up in the air around them, and they both just looked at each other quietly, each waiting for the other to speak first. Toni was more than slightly concerned by the panic that ran its way across Bruce's face slowly. What the hell did she do to make him so upset?

"Do you want me to leave Natasha?" his voice broke the silence cautiously, and it was barely above a hopeless whisper. He didn't look at her, just prepared his tea with shaky hands. She _had_ to be angry with him. She'd avoided him since the…...incident with Hulk two weeks prior, and she'd been holed up in her lab, barely talking to anyone. He was so terrified that he really had hurt her, and now she was afraid of him.

Toni looked at him for a few moments, completely taken aback by his words, and more than a little distracted by the way he said her name. No one called her Natasha. And Toni couldn't help but like how he said it. "Why the hell would I want you to leave?" She watched him incredulously, deciding to ignore her thought about her name for the moment, "what or who the hell gave you that idea?"

"Toni its fine, and I understand if you don't want me around anymore. I know I'm a liability." He rambled on quickly, not wanting to see her face when she agreed with him. After all what else could she do? It wasn't like he was the best houseguest in the world. She must be tired of fixing his messes, and really she was _Toni Stark._ If she wanted some scientists she could have 10 of the smartest lined up to go. She didn't really need him around. She was just, being friendly because Fury told her to. That had to be it.

Toni watched him, trying to ignore the rising panic in the pit of her stomach when he talked about leaving, was he really that miserable here? Wasn't their friendship enough to keep him from leaving? "Bruce. I don't… I really don't want you to leave. You're my science bro. I mean," she went on a bit awkwardly, trying to ignore the way his muscles relaxed with her words, and tamp down on that feeling she got whenever he let her touch him, "I'm not gonna make you stay here. This isn't a cage Bruce. If you want to go you can, but I…I uh really want you to stay." She finished a bit lamely and looked at the floor a bit embarrassed.

He nodded slightly and smiled tiredly, glad that Toni didn't want him to leave, and that she wasn't mad at him for whatever he had done.

They stood in silence for a few moments, but Toni had the nagging suspicion that him thinking she wanted him A.W.O.L wasn't the only reason he was up. It probably wasn't even the main reason to be honest. She looked at him carefully, and then continued onward foolishly, "Why are you really out of bed?"

"It's nothing Toni." His voice was a bit sharp, and Toni's suspicions were instantly correct. So that hadn't been the only reason, just a convenient one.

"Liar." That was the second time she'd called him that tonight, and she couldn't help but think that she was pushing her luck.

He looked at her sharply, anger flashed across his face dangerously the skin around his eyes began to stain green slowly. They stared at each other for a few moments, she looked at him impassively, like the word really didn't mean that much to her. But it was huge to him. So huge, she obviously had no idea what that word did to him, what it meant to really be a liar. He sighed lowly, and his shoulders slumped forward, he felt like making himself as small as possible, so he could be safe from Toni's prying eyes. She saw too much, no one really seemed to notice, but Toni _knew_ when something bugged people, she acted like an immature rich idiot, but she knew things. And no one realized it, thinking that she complained about things just to bug the hell out of people. Not realizing that she did it for them, knowing most of them were too proud to admit when things bothered them.

Maybe he _should_ just tell her; her calling him a liar didn't seem so offensive the more that he thought about it, it was more like an offhand statement than an actual fact. What did he have too loose? Besides her respect and his unshakable image, yea nothing to lose at all.

"Nightmares." He said it as softly as he could, ashamed to be telling _Toni_ of all people. Toni Stark, the woman who was strong enough (or was it foolish) to look Hulk in the face and call him a friend. The woman who, at any moment, could die if the light in her chest suddenly stopped working. And he was upset about nightmares. "Pathetic." He could literally hear…_his_ voice snarling through his head.

Toni nodded; she defiantly understood that problem, more than she cared to admit she understood why he was so upset. "Hulk?" She looked at him cautiously, knowing she really shouldn't pry, but not being able to help herself. This was her friend. Bruce was closer to her than anyone else, maybe even Pepper, what the hell kind of friend would she be if she just left him to be miserable? She wanted to help him, even if she didn't know how. She was willing to go out on a limb and try to talk with him about problems.

He took a sharp breath, and just silently stared at the package of tea in his hands, Toni was about to say something, _anything_ to dispel the awful silence that choked them, but his voice interrupted in a hoarse whisper, "about Betty…but mostly about my father."

Toni looked at him impassively, but her mind was whirling curiously. Betty she knew vague details about. From what she heard, Bruce had been in love with her, but she left him and started dating a man who had tried his best to capture and kill Bruce. "Bitch." She thought a bit nastily. She'd have hated the woman anyway for somehow getting to know Bruce enough for him to love her, but then she left him? Defiantly a bitch. If someone like Bruce loved her, Toni knew she'd do every stupid thing in her power to keep him hers forever.

Her thoughts switched gears from jealousy to the next topic at hand rapidly. His father something new. Now that she thought about it, she really didn't know much about Bruce before the accident. She'd gotten vague details from S.H.E.I.L.D; he was born in Dayton Ohio, raised by his Aunt, typical bullshit that Toni never really cared about. Until now. Now she wanted to know the reasons behind everything, to be painfully honest she'd wanted to know everything about him since she'd met him. She'd wanted to crawl in his head and figure out what made him tick, figure out every little thing that had made him who he was today.

She hopped off the counter silently and stood a bit behind him. He looked so sad and lost, Toni couldn't stand to see him more upset then he usually was. She placed a hand on his shoulder gently, she had absolutely no idea what she was doing, but she hoped she could comfort him in some small way. Even if it was just by letting him know she was there with him.

He stayed completely still for a while, he didn't push her hand off, he didn't tell her to leave; so Toni figured she had to be doing something right. Suddenly, but very slowly, like he was afraid he'd scare her off; he placed his hand over hers.

His hand was warm, and the still green tinged fingers trembled slightly over hers, like he was reliving every nightmare he'd had. He seemed so helpless, and that scared Toni a bit. She'd seen Bruce as many things, but helpless seemed so out of bounds for a man who could turn into an enormous green rage monster at a second's notice. Toni crossed her thumb over the top of his hand, and began to rub little circles in his skin softly. She'd seen Pepper do it to Happy when he was upset about something, so she figured it was a smart thing to do.

They stood there in the silence pensively, but overall comfortable with each other's presence. Toni watched him subtly, not minding in the least when he squeezed her hand softly, in fact she welcomed it. She wanted him to take comfort from her. That was such a foreign concept to her, but it was something she craved giving to him. Just him, and only him.

He looked over his shoulder at her and smiled tentatively; somewhat surprised that she had taken this so seriously. He had expected her to joke this away, but instead she just looked back at him seriously, her dark eyes void of their usual mischief and laughter. Even though he was always telling Toni to be more serious, he wasn't sure he really liked serious Toni. Because serious Toni understood firsthand what he meant when he said "father", she knew in graphic detail what caused his nightmares; he didn't want her to understand. He didn't want to think of Toni in the same type of pain he'd suffered. Because he knew she was fragile. Even if she played like she wasn't, the smallest thing could break her to pieces. He looked at her mournfully, brown eyes full of sorrow for what a sorry pair they made together.

Toni understood what his eyes said; she could practically see his thoughts in those rich brown eyes. She just smiled at him, but it wasn't a real smile. The corners of her mouth lifted, but there was no joy in her eyes, they were just weary and sad. Part of her mind reeled at letting herself be so vulnerable, for showing parts of her real self, but it was _Bruce_, and for some insane reason that made it okay. Because for some reason, he was okay with her real self, and he'd never use it against her.

Silence flowed around them softly, it was sad and heavy, but for the first time either of them could really remember; they weren't alone in the silence. So it became bearable, and part of the weight was lifted as they shared it together.

"Thank you." Bruce's voice broke the silence smoothly, swirling around the kitchen and reverberating back to Toni slowly.

She nodded a bit, not really sure how to respond, people didn't usually thank her for things. They just accepted what she did, and moved on with life.

He let go of her hand gently and, overcome by some sort of madness, he pulled her close and hugged her. He knew Natasha Stark didn't do hugs, but she also didn't like things being passed to her, and he got away with that all the time. So why not hugs too? She didn't seem that much smaller than him now, but she was still small. Her slim body fit against his, and her head brushed under his chin lightly. He was amazed at how different she seemed this close; he had the most insane urge to protect her from the world. To make sure her pain stopped for good. He closed his eyes silently, this friendship was about to get even more complicated for him. Especially since he _knew_ he was on the edge of something bigger with her, he just didn't want to think of what.

She stayed absolutely still for a few long moments, and then she gradually relaxed into whatever madness this was. She wrapped her arms around his larger frame a bit timidly, and sank a bit closer to his warmth. This was probably a bad idea, but it felt so good to just be _held._ To just be close to someone without needing to give them things. She nuzzled closer, and smiled when he wrapped his arms around her tighter.

They stood together for while, both knowing that they were moving out of their comfortable _safe_ friendship into murky waters. This might lead them somewhere they had no idea how to navigate, but for some reason that was okay with them.

* * *

A.N: and it continues. I think out of both of them Bruce would (suprisingly) be the one with the most confidence issues. And I think it's going to be alot harder for them to survive in a relationship than almost anyone else. But that's what makes it fun and worth it. :D


	3. Chapter 3

Toni was surprised at how…_normal_ her and Bruce were after the midnight incident. There were subtle differences in them that they could plainly see, but the others couldn't. Not that that bothered them, because whatever they were, it didn't really need a label yet. They just were. They still worked together happily, and joked around together, but underneath all of that was a current of something more. Something they hadn't really taped into, but was there waiting for them when they were ready, whenever it was they decided to be ready.

The day was going fairly well for them. They were suppose to have been testing out a new model of her suit, but the thunder and rain outside made it unsafe to test the mock VI. Any little disturbance in the electrical could send her plummeting to earth, and that was defiantly _not_ something Toni was interested in trying out again. And she couldn't work on the room because she hadn't received the adimantium yet. So they sat in her lab together, quietly working on little projects that had popped into their head, every now and then they'd look over at each other and just smile softly, before moving back onto whatever they held in their hands. It was so normal that Toni was still expecting something to crash through the wall and kill them at any moment. Toni Stark didn't do normal. But for Bruce, she supposed she could make an exception. Just once.

"Toni, can you come help me with this?" His voice broke through her thoughts, and she glanced over at him to see his sleeve pulled up and a needle firmly grasped between two of his fingers. He'd obviously been trying to take a blood sample, and if the little bloody spots and the way his skin was starting to taint green was any indication, he'd failed…miserably.

She put her work down and walked over to him, "Aren't you suppose to be a doctor?" She was purposely facetious as she took the needle from him and arched her brow cockily, "because for all you know, I could be absolutely terrible at this." She wasn't, but he didn't need to know that.

"I thought you were good at everything Toni." His voice was just as teasing as hers, and Toni couldn't help but love the way he could dish it back to her just as hard as she gave. This was the real Bruce. Still shy and overtly kind, but somewhat sarcastic and just a little bit cocky.

"I am," she placed two fingers on either side of his vein softly, trying to figure out where the best place to stick this thing was, "but my P. aren't in jabbing needles into men with anger management problems. That requires extra training." She slid the needle in smoothly and smiled at him lazily, "Though there are all sorts of kinky things that go along with me playing doctor."

"I'm sure there are," he watched his blood slowly fill up the vial critically, before looking back up at Toni, "and I'm sure all of them involve all the fluids you've had to get put in you from being drunk off your ass." He smiled a bit shyly when she laughed softly. He was pleased by it though, she never laughed like that for anyone else, and he'd come to think of it as his laugh. He knew he shouldn't, and that it really wasn't his place to think of Toni like that, but he couldn't help himself. He pulled the needle out gently and was about to disinfect it meticulously when Toni took it from him carefully.

"I've got it; take care of the vial alright?" She laughed when he watched the needle nervously, cringing when some of his blood smeared onto her pale skin staining it a sickly crimson. She shook her head a bit exasperated at the way his eyes watched her fingers like a hawk. "I'll be fine. I am Toni Stark after all. Little blood ain't gonna do much to this awesome."

"It's not something we should play around with Toni," he brow was furrowed and he was gazing at her seriously no longer playful, "my blood gives people gamma sickness. I don't want that getting inside you." As sickly hot as it would be for something of his to be inside her, he wasn't going to take the risk that she'd get sick.

Toni tossed the needle into a biohazard bin and smirked a bit, "If your blood is that radioactive, I wonder what your cum is like. Maybe we could power some factories." She really couldn't help herself, she knew she shouldn't be talking to him like that, but the way his cheeks flushed a dull pink and his pupils dilated ever so slightly was completely worth it in her mind.

She wiped her blood stained fingers off on a dirty rag slowly, "I'm a genius Brucey. A genius who goes out, fights crazy guys with Antlers, and lives with a capscicle, couple master assassins, a demi-god, and a man with breathtaking anger management skills," she threw the rag on a table, "I highly doubt I'll be done in by some blood."

He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose nervously, Toni could feel his eyes follow her every movement like he expected her to turn green at any moment. She dropped into a chair and swiveled over to him lazily, invading his space smoothly. She liked being in his space, and why would he object to her being in his space? All her wonderful qualities aside, she was smart enough to deserve an area in his space. She watched him shake his head softly, before beginning his work quietly. She was fascinated by the way his larger hands moved so gracefully over his equipment. There was something so soothing about watching Bruce commit science. She always wanted to stop and watch, gaze at the way he connected things and made them into something completely different. If that wasn't magic, she didn't know what was.

She leaned over his shoulder slightly, close enough to feel his heat and catch the faint smell of his aftershave. His curly hair brushed her cheek, scratching against her skin delicately. Toni had the most insane urge to run her fingers through the slightly graying locks. His hair had felt so soft against her cheek, and she was curious to know if it would feel the same running through her hands. The urge became so strong that her fingers twitched, and she clenched her fists lightly, trying to concentrate on what Bruce was going. All that really went through her head was how good he smelled, heady like deserts and jungles; with a hint of something so manly it made her head swim. Fuck control, she was going to play with his hair.

She got up nonchalantly, careful not to disturb him. Luckily for her, he was so focused on his work that he didn't even notice when she stood up. She was going to take that as a sign from God; obviously higher powers wanted this to happen. She reached out with both hands tentatively, and ran her fingers through his soft hair languidly.

"Toni?" confusion and more than a little amusement coursed through him pleasantly, "What are you doing?" Not that it didn't feel completely amazing to have her fingers running through his hair, but it was odd for anyone to be touching him so boldly. Then again this _was_ Toni, and normal rules of engagement didn't ever apply to her.

She played with his hair, just running her fingers thru it gently, before deciding to experiment a little more. She scratched his scalp softly, and was rewarded with a small groan of pleasure from the man in front of her. Oh yea, this was defiantly one of the better ideas she'd had in a while. This was even worth all the time she was taking off of the room she was building for him. Besides, that was the single sexiest sound she had ever heard in her entire life. Period. And she was defiantly and expert on sexy. It made her wonder what it would be like to hear him moan, would it be breathy, or powerful? So many delicious possibilities. Her fingers wandered through his hair lazily, and trailed down his neck slowly. Most people would agree she was playing with fire, and most people once they realized that they were playing with fire would stop. But Toni wasn't most people, and for some reason she'd always liked the burn.

She trailed her hands down his neck onto his strong shoulders and rubbed small circles there. He relaxed under her careful hands, and Toni smiled softly when his hands came to rest over hers lightly. His hands were strong, and covered hers, completely swallowing them up in his. He squeezed them softly completely relaxed for the first since he could really remember. Toni watched him for a moment, before leaning over and placing a soft kiss on the top of his head in an uncharacteristically gentle gesture. He obviously brought out the best of her cockiness. Not that she wasn't already awesome, but Bruce made her just a little better.

Bruce smiled a bit mischievously, and took his hands off hers so he could spin his chair around and pull her into his lap quicker than she could really see. Even if he didn't want to admit it, there were positive effects of having the other guy in him. Speed was defiantly one of them. He was happily amused by the undignified squeak she emitted when she was so unceremoniously dragged into his lap.

"Bastard."

Well wasn't this familiar? He took a moment to make sure she really wasn't upset with him, and the amused smirk on her face reassured him, "Me? Whatever gave you that idea?" His voice matched her playful tone perfectly. She laughed joyfully, and it was one of the most beautiful things Bruce had ever heard in his life. Toni rarely laughed like this, so unguarded and free, and he couldn't help but love that _he_ caused it. Her forehead came to rest against his, and her fingers again found their way in his hair. He smiled at her warmly, and was entranced by the way her dark eyes sparkled at him. He could see amusement, and crazily enough affection hidden in their depths. What happened next he blamed on blood loss, even though he's only taken a vile.

He kissed her. His lips pressed against hers softly, and his hands held her waist loosely. All rational though fled her at the feeling of his soft lips melding with hers. Her fingers gripped his hair helplessly, and she kissed him back right away. Slowly at first, little sipping touches that drove her absolutely insane, and then harder, with passion she could finally let go of. His arms encircled her, pulling her closer to his solid chest and exotic scent. God this was amazing, nothing in her life had ever felt this wonderful, part of her panicked at how much she _needed_ him. She'd never needed anyone else in her life like this, but maybe that was okay.

beep…beep...beep…

Her tongue traced a slow path across his lip, and they both groaned when his darted out to taste her. His deft fingers ran up the back of her shirt, and traced small patterns against her bare skin. And all lids were off on control. They kissed each other passionately, letting go and enjoying the taste and feel of each other.

beep…beep…beep…

They both pointedly ignored the dull whine of his heart monitor in favor of exploring this new feeling.

He tasted amazing, so uniquely Bruce and Toni couldn't get enough of it. She bit his lip gently, and watched the way his pupils began to swallow up the warm brown of his eyes. There was the faint speckling of electric green in the warm colour, but Toni couldn't care less. She undid a few buttons on his shirt and pressed her hands against his warm skin while she kissed and nipped a slow trail down his jaw. His stubble scraped against her skin erotically, and sent delicious tremors down her spine. She reveled in the way his pulse jumped when she bit at his pulse playfully, before soothing the sting with her tongue softly.

He moaned gently, and tangled his hands in her wild hair before pulling her back up so he could taste her again. His heart was beating erratically, but he was too lost in Toni to really care. She was so soft and sexy pressed against him so tightly that he half thought she was part of him. He began to pull up the hem of her shirt slowly watching as her pale skin was slowly revealed to him, before pulling it off completely and throwing it somewhere far, far away. Her black bra made the most striking contrast against her pale skin, and he ached to taste her. Feel all that silky softness against his tongue. He smirked at her slight flush, and bent over to run his lips across the swell of her breast lightly, his tongue darted out to taste the creamy skin and he groaned at how sweet she was. His fingers trailed up her back, when she scratched through his hair, sending pleasure throughout his body, jolting directly to his groin. Fuck she was amazing.

Beep..beep..beep..beep

His eyes bled to electric green, and he could feel his control slowly leaving him. He pulled back quickly and held her at arm's length panting softly. He looked at her and panted lightly, her lips were swollen, and her hair was wildly sexy. The wanton look in her eyes nearly pushed him off the edge of control. That look was for _him._ All for _him._ He looked away and groaned softly, desperately trying to calm his heart down. "Slowly," he ground out softly before looking back into her dark eyes, "We have to take all this slowly Toni. Whatever this is, whatever we are, it needs to go slowly."

She nodded her consent a bit breathlessly. Who the hell knew that he had that kind of passion in him? She was still on fire. Truthfully she wanted to push, wanted to see him loose all control. And if she was being honest she was surprisingly curious about what it would be like to kiss the other guy. It wouldn't be cheating because he was still part of Bruce, but it was still deliciously taboo. Underneath all that, she knew that Bruce deserved to have it slow. She'd never done slow, but she was good at everything, so how hard was this going to be? "Then go to dinner with me."

Bruce's jaw dropped slightly as he watched her get off, and pull her shirt back on smoothly. Did Toni Stark, sex goddess extraordinaire, woman who didn't do relationships just ask him out on a date? His brain was trying to catch up with this information, so he just nodded dumbly and was amazed by the bright smile she graced him with.

"Good, meet me in the garage in about 10 minutes, and we'll jump this bandstand."

He watched her cross over to the door, "Toni," he called out a bit nervously when the door opened for her. He didn't want to ask but he _had_ to know, "are we uh…are we exclusive? Like just you and me kind of exclusive?"

She looked at him unfathomably for a moment, and his heart raced nervously. "Great going Banner, way to scare her off." He though a bit venomously.

Toni mulled over the question for a few moments, before smiling slowly. He wanted it to be just them? Fuck yea it was just them; she wasn't sharing him with anyone else, "Course it is Bruce. I didn't peg you for the open type of guy anyway." She laughed at the look of dumbfounded shock on his face, "It's just us in this relationship." Her voice lost its playfulness and took on a serious edge. She wanted him to know that she meant what she said. He nodded gratefully at her, and she watched a silly grin cross his face. "Guess you're my boyfriend now Brucey." And with that she left the lab, leaving Bruce to get ready.

He grinned at the door delighted by the turn of events. And he got up smoothly. Apparently…he had a date.

* * *

A/N: I know it seems like they're moving a bit fast, but they've been friends for a while, and Bruce probably hasn't had sex since his accident. So I think loss of control is completely justified.


End file.
